What is a Writing System?

Language is primarily a spoken means of communication. Writing systems (also called orthographies) are ways of communicating on printed or visual media, and are usually, but not always, based on spoken languages. A script, sometimes referred to using terms such as alphabet and syllabary, is a collection of symbols (typically with accompanying rules of behavior) that forms the basis for writing many languages.

This leads to a basic definition of a writing system: the use of one or more scripts to form a complete system for writing a particular language. Note that a writing system is unique to a specific language, or language family. Although Russian and Ukrainian share the same Cyrillic script, they represent two distinct writing systems.

A writing system implementation (WSI) refers to a set of software components that allow computer users to process textual data in that script and language; making it possible, for instance, to enter data using a keyboard and display it on the screen. Because writing systems are language-specific, there is no guarantee that an implementation of a certain script on a computer will work for all languages that use that script. A WSI that works for Farsi, for example, may not work for Sindhi, although they share the same Arabic script.

Common examples of WSIs would be those computer systems found in newspaper publishing houses around the world. WSIs can be very simple, such as for English, for which only a simple font is needed. They can also be complex and include expensive, dedicated software applications. For instance, to use Chinese on a computer requires a combination of fonts, input systems, and publishing software that can write both horizontally and vertically.

The following sections address topics of writing system identification (including language tagging) and locale data. For more information on writing system implementations, see the writing systems computing model.

What is a Writing System?

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